Local Government and Poltical Parties
Through my many political science courses, I have gained a lot of information regarding political climates on a state, national, and international level. While I felt like an expert when it came to the functionality of government such as its regulations and departments, I always asked, how do these individuals find their way into these positions, and what steps lead to this career path?
The course, American Political Parties (POLI 360), focused on American Political Parties, giving insight into the history and path of reform to party mobilization and elections. This information directly related to my past semester experience at the South Carolina State House. The Senator I Paged for, former Senator Mike Fanning, was campaigning to be re-elected for his Senate seat. I was able to witness firsthand the activities, recruitment, and benefits of party activism.
To begin, party activism takes presence in three activities: party mobilizations, campaign office activities, and aiding in fundraising. On a state level, party activism takes a role in participating in your local parties’ politicians’ races. For former Senator Fanning’s campaign, there were numerous party mobilization efforts made to increase support for his campaign. He made efforts to do door-door canvassing and spread alerts via lawn signs, phone banks, and other get-out-the vote efforts. Some of these get out the vote efforts included him visiting over 200 churches in his district, attending any school or community event in his district, and having a large social media presence, where he would openly share his campaign efforts with his supporters. To continue, Senator Fanning’s campaign also consisted of numerous Campaign Office Activities. In the state of South Carolina, there are laws against campaign efforts on statehouse grounds. Therefore, all efforts were made in his free time with a campaign team. I volunteered to help with his campaign outside of the Statehouse office. I would assist in making phone calls, gathering information about the churches in his district, and making campaign posts for his Facebook. Other office activities by his campaign team included hosting meetings, preparing for debates, and handling phone calls and constituent questions.
This is a major role in campaigning because as campaigns get more and more competitive, it is important to have a team that is ready to eliminate any misinformation spread by other parties or competitors. Finally, a major part of former Senator Fanning’s campaign, and all campaigns on the state level, is fundraising. Hosting fundraising events and other fundraising efforts allows politicians to have more supplies for their campaign. I was only able to attend one fundraising event, due to my class and work schedule, however it is a great place to not only make connections around your community, but more importantly support your local candidates. Involvement in party activism, specifically at the state level, is extremely important because the state and local policies are the ones that affect the citizens more personally and directly. Therefore, it’s important for the citizens to understand what they are voting for, and even more so to understand the effects of their vote in all policy areas.
Continually, another big lesson of POLI 360 I got to see first-hand, was the recruitment to party activism. Today, many party activists and campaign volunteers are amateurs, meaning they work for purposive (policy-based incentives) instead of material incentives. Therefore, there is a lot less patronage shown and more ideological volunteers with a higher socioeconomic status. Because of this “Rise of Amateurs,” we see three reasons that people would volunteer: they want to, they are asked to, or they can (have the time, money, and skills to help). To elaborate on this more, I volunteered for the campaign because I wanted to. I wanted to support the candidate that best suited the policies and positions I stood for in the state political atmosphere. I supported former Senator Fanning’s policies on all fronts, specifically his education policies. Other volunteers, however, volunteer because they were asked to, either directly from the candidate, or by their staff. Some may volunteer because they can, for example, they have a lot of time, money, and connections that would not only contribute to the campaign positively but also give them something to do.
Finally, the benefits of party activism are purposive, or in other words policy based. As times have changed, there has been a shift from political machines and professional activists to more amateur activists working for specific policies instead of political party win. For example, in the past, people or “professionals” would get involved to gain something. The material incentives included patronage (being awarded a place in the office for party loyalty), preferment (promises of contract approvals), or elected office (given connections and support for future elected office campaigns). However, in recent decades, we have seen a switch from these material incentives to purposive incentives. In my experience, my support for former Senator Fanning went beyond working as his Page. His position on education was important to me. As a daughter to two parents in education and as a sister to a dyslexic. I have been able to see firsthand where South Carolina struggles in education. South Carolina ranks very low in education compared to the other states. South Carolina also has one of the lowest state budgets for improving the education systems. Additionally, South Carolina pays their teachers some of the lowest in the country. Former Senator Fanning was so dedicated to making a change in South Carolina education, that he filibustered for 8 weeks in 2020, to avoid a bill being passed that would increase state standardized testing. Former Senator Fanning stood behind 10,000 teachers who opposed and protested this bill statewide. For many reasons, former Senator Fanning’s involvement and dedication to improving education in South Carolina are some of the policy-based reasons why I personally got involved in his campaign.
Learning more about political parties, and more particularly their role in the election process, was another example of how my University of South Carolina’s political courses are preparing me for not only my future as a JD candidate, but also a career as a political activist. These lessons not only allowed me to participate in former Senator Fanning’s campaign but also allowed me to be more of an asset. I was able to gain experiences, make connections, and learn leadership to be more versatile in my assistance to former Senator Fanning’s campaign. As I continued my progression of my Graduate with Leadership Distinction for Professional and Civic Engagement, these skills also carry over for my growth as a leader and a future professional.
